Seib & Wessel: What We’re Reading Monday

The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, who has led the opposition to former Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, asks whether there are “a few good men or women” on the liberal side who will step forward and sink the nomination in the wake of Mr. Hagel’s rough confirmation hearing. [Weekly Standard]

J.P. Morgan economists say the Monte Paschi bank scandal has tightened the Italian election, set for Feb. 24-25, and given Silvio Berlusconi a shot at returning to office, an outcome that probably would unsettle markets and shake up euro zone fiscal politics. [J.P. Morgan Markets]

North Korea seems determined to conduct another nuclear test soon, but the combination of that and outreach such as the recent visit by Google’s Eric Schmidt suggests the North Koreans have embarked on a strategy to have their cake and eat it, too—to pursue nuclear ambitions and more world economic ties simultaneously. [Council on Foreign Relations]

The U.S. government is spending more than $10 billion a year on educating veterans (and another $560 million for active-duty troops.) James Dao looks at the success (and not) of efforts to help more of them actually graduate. [New York Times]

How Oreo got an ad up on Twitter so quickly when the lights went out at the Super Bowl. [BuzzFeed]

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President Barack Obama is expected to sign in the next few days a bill that temporarily suspends the ceiling on federal debt so the U.S. Treasury can keep borrowing. When the ceiling is re-imposed on May 19, according to estimates by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the federal debt will be about $450 billion higher than the old $16.4 trillion ceiling. The center estimates that the Treasury will be able to move money around for a few months after May, but Congress will confront the need to boost the ceiling again in August or perhaps a bit later. What is the debt ceiling? David explains. [Watch]

On Friday’s “Seib & Wessel,” Susan Lund, research director at the McKinsey Global Institute, says the fourth-quarter contraction in the U.S. economy was “more of an accounting aberration than a long-term trend,” but demonstrates that the economy could suffer if cutbacks in federal spending occur while the private sector remains wea [Watch]. Plus, WSJ reporters Laura Meckler and Peter Nicholas join The Roundtable to size up the politics of immigration reform and weigh the chances of it producing legislation [Watch]. And, David explains sequestration and reporters discuss whether Hillary Clinton getting ready for another presidential run? [Watch]

Sign of the Times

Minor milestones We’ve spotted:

Among prime working-age American men, those between 25 and 54 years, 17.5% — roughly one in six — were not working in January [BLS]

Hispanics comprise 22.9%, on average, of the population of congressional districts held by Democrats (up from 10.2% in 1990), and 11.5% of those held by Republicans (up from 6.1% in 1990.) [WSJ]

The number of cattle in Texas is down 5.3% from last year as ranchers thin herds in response to drought, Agriculture Department says. Nationally, cattle count is down 2%. [WSJ]

Bargains! In 2012, the median price of a 3-bedroom New York City apartment was $2.37 million — the lowest in a decade. [WSJ]

The Pentagon did not release any names of U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan or Iraq last week. That’s the first time that’s happened since July 2011. [ABC]

More than 170 communities (serving 2.3 million households) in 18 states have a program for recycling residential food scraps, according to BioCycle. [Washington Post]

There were 842 venture-capital firms in the U.S. in 2011 that raised money in the previous eight years, down 16% from the 1,004 firms in 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association. [WSJ]

For critical perspectives on politics and the economy from Jerry Seib & David Wessel, visit Seib & Wessel.

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Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.